EU’s Borrell: Israel can’t veto Palestinians’ right to self-determination

Israel does not have the right to veto Palestinians’ right to self-determination, U foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said yesterday.

“Israel cannot have the veto right to the self-determination of the Palestinian people,” Borrell said during a joint press conference with Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and EU Commissioner for Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi in Brussels.

“We appreciate the crucial role played by Egypt, in ensuring the delivery of humanitarian aid to the people in Gaza, on providing health care to medical evacuees, on negotiating the humanitarian pause, and the release of hostages in November,” Borrell said.

He noted that the EU aims to build a “coalition supportive to the relaunch of a political perspective for the two-state solution… And Egypt is and has to be a key partner in this regard.”

He pointed out that the United Nations has repeatedly recognised the Palestinians’ right to self-determination, and no party can deny or oppose that.

Earlier on Monday, Borrell told reporters that negotiations for a “two-state solution” in the Middle East will continue, whether Israel likes it or not.

“If Israel does not want this solution, it will be difficult for it to find a place in the negotiations to build a solution. But this does not prevent other [actors] from doing so,” he added.

“If the international community can prepare a solution together, propose it and agree on it, there will be a certain negotiating power.”

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